


hyne's successor

by WickedSong



Series: the sorceress and knight [7]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26602135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedSong/pseuds/WickedSong
Summary: “A Sorceress’ powers can be a blessing, or a curse – even both. Mind you, there have been as many good Sorceresses as evil. But now there are so few left; their power is a source of great magic, and, potentially, greater darkness. The Heartless are drawn to it, just as Edea told Rinoa.”(...)Rinoa didn’t know what to say to that explanation. The woman she’d spoken to had seemed so lost and afraid; she didn’t sound like she could be capable of doing what Maleficent had when she’d razed Radiant Garden to the ground and killed so many.But, then again, even Edea herself thought she might be capable. That made Rinoa more concerned than anything.
Relationships: Edea Kramer/Cid Kramer (Mentioned), Rinoa Heartilly/Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Rinoa Heartilly/Squall Leonhart
Series: the sorceress and knight [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1270202
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	hyne's successor

**Author's Note:**

> -I've had 70% of this already written for who knows how long! I just never knew where or how to finish it, and get to where I wanted. After writing the previous part, I had some inspiration, and hey presto! 
> 
> -This includes a LOT of FF8 lore. Like, it's so self-indulgent, and I can't even begin to be sorry about it.

Rinoa sighed, as she ran the faucet and held her hands underneath the warm water. She scrubbed, and scrubbed, until she could be sure there was no remnant of blood on her hands. She blinked furiously, feeling exhausted.

Only when she looked up at the mirror did she remember that she was still in the ivory dress that she’d bought specially for the party.

_The party._

Rinoa groaned at the thought. It’d been such a wonderful night – at least for the first few hours. It was a rare evening of peace and tranquillity and a chance to forget their worries. So much hard work had been put into the town to keep it safe from the Heartless, and that seemed reason enough to celebrate too.

But no amount of singing or dancing kept the shadows away for too long. Rinoa was thankful that, at the very least, their numbers had been few, and easily taken care of. Still, she hadn’t seen Squall since the night had descended into chaos, and she worried that he might be injured down some alleyway somewhere.

Rinoa heard a door outside open, and then close.

“Rinoa, are you here?”

“Yeah, Aerith,” Rinoa replied, glad that her friend was safe, but also feeling her heart sink a little that it wasn’t Squall, as she’d hoped it might be.

But she knew he’d be okay.

“Where are you?” Aerith called, from the hallway.

“Just washing up,” Rinoa answered back, drying her hands, and inspecting her now-ragged appearance in the mirror. It wouldn’t get much better, she supposed, and she doubted she’d sleep tonight at all.

“Are you all right?”

Rinoa gave Aerith a placid smile, in response, as she closed the bathroom door behind her. As exhausted as she felt, she couldn’t begrudge Aerith for her caring, almost-motherly, nature. Especially not when she knew Aerith was just as drained as her, if not more so.

“Tired,” Rinoa admitted. “But fine. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No. And it looks like all the Heartless have been taken care of, for now anyway,” Aerith replied, and then she smiled. “I’m going to stay with Yuffie in the Shop tonight. Poor thing says she’s not scared about coming back here, but she is.”

“I think most people are,” Rinoa agreed, knowing that the self-proclaimed, but still rather young, _Great Ninja Yuffie_ wouldn’t be the only one not to trust these streets tonight. “Say Aerith, have you heard anything about-“

“And Squall’s fine,” Aerith interrupted, as if reading Rinoa’s mind.

Rinoa thought it strange how the older girl had a strange knack for that kind of thing. And not just with her either.

“Is he-“

“Patrolling,” finished Aerith. “He, Cloud and some of the other volunteers are going to keep going for a few hours more.” Aerith sighed. “I told them to get some rest but who knows if they’ll listen.”

Rinoa raised an eyebrow at that. She understood very well how stubborn Squall could be. Cloud was very much the same.

Still, if everyone, and the town was safe, she was content. When Aerith looked up, and towards the end of the hallway, Rinoa knew what she was going to ask next.

“How’s our…guest?”

And _this_ was the other thing on Rinoa’s mind. Amid the chaos of the Heartless attack, she and Aerith found a woman down an alleyway in the Third District. She was alone, and just as the pair approached a dark portal had closed behind her. They couldn’t be sure it had anything to do with the Heartless, but the timing was too suspect to be anything else.

The woman was unconscious, with lines across an otherwise youthful face, and long black hair. She wore a plain black dress, and muttered in a daze - something about the shadows and magic - as Aerith and Rinoa escorted her back to the hotel

From there, Aerith instructed Rinoa to take care of the mysterious woman, while she assessed the situation back in town, and healed as many people as she could.

That was about an hour ago.

“Still sleeping, still muttering,” Rinoa replied, following Aerith’s look up the hallway to the room they’d put her in. “She’s been in and out of consciousness, and..."

Rinoa trailed off, as she looked down at her hands. They were clean, or at least as clean as they could be. 

“Did you do what I told you to after I left?” Aerith asked, adopting her medic-tone almost immediately.

It was now that Rinoa could see the clear strain on her friend’s face. It'd been a long night for them all, and Rinoa feared it was only the beginning of something worse yet to come. It was a feeling she couldn’t place, no matter how she tried.

“Yes,” Rinoa answered, suddenly feeling like a child under Aerith’s thoughtful gaze. “But I think you’ll need to check on her. If you’re up to it, I mean.”

“Of course,” Aerith said, with a sweet smile, that managed to bely any burden she might carry.

And Rinoa knew that even someone as seemingly cheerful as Aerith carried them. They all did, these days.

* * *

The woman’s name was Edea. Edea Kramer.

She introduced herself when she’d fully woken up, the next morning. She explained to Rinoa – it was early morning and Aerith hadn’t been round yet - that there’d been an attack and she feared her world was now overrun by the Heartless.

With sadness in her voice, Edea told her the story. Edea was the Matron of an orphanage, back in her home world. She and her husband founded and ran the orphanage together; a home by the sea, filled with children. They hadn't been able to have any of their own, Edea confided, but raising the children with nowhere else to go was the pride of her life, she said.

So, it hurt Rinoa to explain to the older woman that there’d been no sign of anyone else near the portal. And, as far as Rinoa knew the only Cid in Traverse Town was Cid Highwind. That hadn’t changed overnight.

“Then that means Cid _is_ -“

“I’m sure he’s all right,” Rinoa assured Edea, as gently as she could. “He’s probably looking for you, right now.”

For a split second, it looked like Edea was going to say something in response, but instead she just smiled. Rinoa could see it didn’t quite reach her eyes, but that was okay. Everyone was shaken up when they first arrived in Traverse Town; especially if they had the misfortune of coming alone.

Rinoa remembered that feeling very well, though she found it wise to not dwell on it for too long.

“Do you remember much before waking up here?” Rinoa questioned, tracing a pattern on the bottom of the blanket, trying to seem as casual as she could.

Rinoa certainly didn’t think Edea could do any harm, not with the injury she’d sustained. But she – and nobody else - could be sure of that, and especially not with the timing of her appearance.

Rinoa, her head still bowed, felt Edea study her quietly, instead of answering the question. When Rinoa decided to look up, she almost withered under the older woman’s gaze.

Edea must’ve known _why_ Rinoa was asking these questions. She had the same air of intuition around her that Aerith did. It made Rinoa feel guilty for asking so many questions in the first place, but she had to be sure she wasn’t a threat to whatever scrap of peace they could find in Traverse Town.

“Not much,” Edea confessed. “The Heartless came out of nowhere. I remember telling Cid to keep the children safe. I used my powers, but-“

“Powers?” Rinoa wondered, as Edea trailed off, looking down.

Though Rinoa wanted to know more, she stilled in her question for the time being. For the first time, true grief crossed Edea’s face, and her features contorted into something pained. She took a few deep breaths, and Rinoa wasn’t sure whether to stay with her or to give her space.

But when Rinoa went to stand, Edea held her hand up.

“You don’t have to leave, child,” Edea said, as she looked up with a tearful smile. “It just hurts to know that I’m never going to see those children, or my husband, again. I know because I can feel it.”

“What do you mean?” Rinoa asked, sitting back down on the bed, keeping her distance, but more and more intrigued by the woman in front of her.

How could she have lost hope of seeing those she loved again, and so quickly?

“You and your friends,” Edea began, “and the citizens of this town, you all deserve to know who I am. _What_ I am. What I’m capable of, too.”

Rinoa didn’t like the sound of that. But she’d always been curious, and it was that curiosity that found her rooted to the spot.

Rinoa swallowed, thinking of how best to respond to such a statement.

“And what do you mean by _that_?” And then Rinoa remembered. “You did say something about powers? You can use magic?”

That wasn’t too odd, Rinoa thought. Merlin, the wizard from Radiant Garden, could use magic, after all. He was Aerith’s teacher and had taught Squall a _Fire_ spell or two.

Maybe magic wasn’t common in Edea’s world, but here it wouldn’t be the strangest thing Rinoa had ever seen in her life. Maybe that was what Edea was afraid of.

“More than that,” Edea replied. “I am a Sorceress, and one of the very few left. The Heartless seek us out, to manipulate us, and our powers. Some are already taken in the thrall of darkness, and others are beginning to fall.”

 _A Sorceress_? Rinoa thought about it for a moment, perplexed by the notion.

In her childhood, she’d heard fairytales that involved princesses and evil witches – her mother sometimes called them sorceresses. But Edea didn’t seem to be like the villains in those long-told tales.

“In this world, you are familiar with magic, yes?” Edea asked. “There is someone who knows of it?”

Rinoa nodded, and Edea reached out to place a gentle hand over her own. There was something in the touch that felt maternal, but Rinoa guessed she could have been imagining that, given what Edea had told her about life in her old world.

“Yes, Merlin,” Rinoa answered. “Why-“

“Ask this Merlin,” Edea implored. “He should know of my kind.” Edea paused, turning away as if she was ashamed. “My kind, and the darkness we hold.”

* * *

Merlin seemed shocked at the mention of a Sorceress in Traverse Town. Aerith and Cloud, too, twitched at the mention of such a being. Even Squall, usually stoic and unaffected, tensed.

Rinoa shrugged her shoulders at the group, gathered in Merlin’s hut, and she’d relayed what Edea had told her to do.

“Am I missing something?” she asked.

“And you said this woman’s name is Edea?” Merlin questioned in reply, as if ignoring Rinoa’s question. “You’re _positive_ it’s not anything else?”

“That’s what she told me,” Rinoa answered, and she looked to Aerith.

Aerith, who’d as soon as Rinoa had relayed Edea’s story, had declared they had to see Merlin immediately, and gathered the others for the meeting, too.

But Aerith didn’t look too sure, as she stood nervously next to Cloud.

“You don’t think she has anything to do with-“

“Maleficent,” finished Squall, turning to Rinoa. When he said the name, Aerith took a sharp breath, and Cloud’s eyes darkened. Merlin looked troubled.

“You remember I told you about a woman with great power who led the invasion of Radiant Garden?”

Rinoa nodded at Squall; it hadn’t been easy hearing the story, but she’d known, at the time, it was even harder for him to tell it. Now, in his sorrowful eyes, it looked like he was reliving it all over again, and she wished, more than anything, that he didn’t have to.

She placed a hand on his forearm, and looked up, trying her best to show him that she was there.

“This _Maleficent_ ,” Rinoa began, gently. “Was _she_ a Sorceress too?”

Squall nodded, and then sighed. Cloud stepped forward, looking as reserved as ever.

“We’re still not sure what she wanted from our world, but she burned it to the ground all the same.”

His voice betrayed no emotion, and Aerith shook her head at the memory.

“Edea said there were only a few Sorceresses left?” Rinoa said. “That they were especially vulnerable to darkness. She seemed…scared that she might be too.”

Merlin, who’d been quietly listening before, was now skimming through a book he’d pulled off a nearby shelf. Rinoa went to ask what he was reading about, exactly, but he held a hand up, as if to tell her he’d anticipated the question, and didn’t have an answer for her yet.

Truthfully, she wasn’t _that_ used to dealing with the eccentric Wizard, but Squall, who was, rolled his eyes at him.

“But she doesn’t seem like a threat?” he asked her, softly.

Rinoa shrugged. “She’s lost her home, her children and her husband. She’s alone and hurt.”

And if there was one thing that they could all relate to; it was losing their world and families. Though they had each other, and Rinoa counted her lucky stars every day for Squall, there were still times she yearned for a home, and the life, she’d lost so long ago.

She wasn’t the only one who did, too.

“Maybe it’s an act,” Aerith continued, and then she looked even more confused, as she folded her arms, “but then, why not just kill us straightaway?”

Squall couldn’t seem to find an answer to Aerith’s question; nor could anyone else.

“Have you found what you’re looking for yet, old man?” Cloud asked Merlin; the Wizard, in turn, wrinkled his nose up in disdain at being referred to as so.

“You’re spending too much time with that Highwind chap,” Merlin countered, as he snapped the book shut. He nodded his head at Rinoa and held up the volume in his hands so that they could all see the title emblazoned along the cover.

“ _The Legend of Hyne_?” Rinoa asked, and then she shrugged; she hadn’t heard of it before. “What’s that?”

“The story of the Sorceresses,” Merlin replied, with a thoughtful nod. “Once, long ago, there was a powerful deity; the Great Hyne. He created humans, to be his tools, and soon went into a long slumber. Many years later, he woke to find that his world had changed, and not to his liking.“

“Mister Merlin,” Aerith interrupted, with her hand raised ever so slightly, like she was in one of her lessons. “What does this have to do with Edea, or even Maleficent?”

Merlin shook his head and tittered.

“I’m getting there, my girl. Young folk: you have no patience.”

“Just skip to the important part,” Squall deadpanned, and then at Merlin’s glare, added a very forced, “ _please_.”

Merlin continued to look irritated, but nodded, nonetheless.

“Very well. The Great Hyne tried to put the tools he’d created back in what he deemed their place, but the people revolted against him. In a compromise, he offered up half of his body and power. Many people, over many worlds, fought for that power. Those who emerged victorious soon found that Hyne had given them a corrupted part of his body; simply a shell. Useless. Hyne’s real power was nowhere to be found.”

Squall, arms folded, looked up.

“And where was the real power?”

“In the Sorceresses; women much like Edea and Maleficent, passed down through the generations. Though they come from different worlds there is _that_ common thread tying them together,” Merlin answered. “A Sorceress’ powers can be a blessing, or a curse – even both. Mind you, there have been as many good Sorceresses as evil. But now there are so few left; their power is a source of great magic, and, potentially, greater darkness. The Heartless are drawn to it, just as Edea told Rinoa.”

“So, this Edea _could_ be corrupted by these powers?” Squall asked.

Merlin nodded, solemnly. “Yes, yes she could.”

Rinoa didn’t know what to say to that explanation. The woman she’d spoken to had seemed so lost and afraid; she didn’t sound like she could be capable of doing what Maleficent had when she’d razed Radiant Garden to the ground and killed so many.

But, then again, even Edea herself thought she might be capable. That made Rinoa more concerned than anything.

* * *

Squall leaned on the wall in a corner of the room, as Rinoa tended to Edea. The Sorceress sat up, looking much brighter than she had in days. Her wound was healing, and Aerith told them that was surely a good sign.

In a few days, she’d be able to get back on her feet, and from there try to carve out some sort of existence in this world. Rinoa was determined to help her, though the others distrusted her. She couldn’t blame them, not when their own world had fallen victim to the same powers Edea wielded. That was why Squall stood guard, though Rinoa insisted, multiple times, that she would be fine.

Still, Edea didn’t let it bother her.

“So, Squall-“

“ _Leon_ ,” Squall interrupted her. “My name is Leon.”

Rinoa smiled at Edea, as politely as she could, on behalf of her boyfriend.

“I’m the only one who calls him Squall,” she explained, looking back at Squall, who had now folded his arms. She gave him a pointed look, to say he was being rude, and he had the good sense to give her a look of apology. “To everyone else, he goes by Leon. I should’ve explained that before, sorry.”

Edea nodded, slightly.

“I understand,” she said, quietly, as if she understood much more than the puzzle that was Squall’s name. “So, _Leon_. What inspired you to take up the gunblade? It’s the most noble of weapons, at least in my world.”

Rinoa didn’t think the question was out of the ordinary, but Squall looked surprised.

“You had gunblades in your world?”

For the first time, he sounded interested in something Edea was saying, and not stand-offish as he’d been before.

“Oh yes,” Edea said. “My husband was quite the enthusiast, though he wasn’t the warrior type.”

Edea’s smile turned sad, at her own mention of her husband.

Cid Kramer still hadn’t turned up, anywhere in Traverse Town. Even though it’d only been a few days, Edea seemed to have already lost faith that he was alive, somewhere. Still, Rinoa was determined not to lose hope for her.

Rinoa went to say as much when there was a loud banging at the door. Squall answered, quickly, and Rinoa could hear the gruff tones of Cid; that was Cid Highwind. He and Squall spoke in hushed voices, though Rinoa was quite sure what they were discussing.

Ever since the news spread that a Sorceress – or a witch, depending on who you asked, and what they thought – appeared in the town, and on the same night as a Heartless attack, the rumour mill hadn’t stopped. Many people were distrustful of the idea of someone with those powers in their midst; Rinoa wondered who’d spread the news in the first place.

Squall, of course, knew.

She heard Squall come up beside her, leaving Cid at the door, for the time being. Rinoa stood to meet him.

“Another meeting?” she asked, expectantly.

“Hojo,” Squall replied, sharply.

Rinoa resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the mention of the scientist; he was the creepiest man Rinoa had ever had the misfortune of meeting and that was a sentiment shared across Traverse Town. Rinoa didn't think she'd ever been within two feet of the man. If she had it her way, it would stay like that.

Always looking for his next experiment, Rinoa didn’t know the specifics of what he wanted to do with Edea but knew it wouldn’t be good.

Stoking up the town’s distrust was just his way of trying to achieve his means.

“Be careful,” Rinoa warned, leaning in closer to Squall. “Don’t-“

“Trust him?” Squall replied. “I never have, and I never will.”

Rinoa smiled at that, and on tiptoe, placed a kiss to Squall’s cheek. He held her in place a second longer.

“You be careful too,” he whispered, before returning the kiss. He left out into the hallway, where Cid would be waiting, no doubt to rant about Hojo himself, before they came face to face with the scientist.

Rinoa watched the door, only distracted from her stupor when Edea cleared her throat. Remembering that the older woman was there, Rinoa felt awfully foolish. Terrible and selfish too, she realised.

Only moments before they’d been discussing Edea’s husband – whom she clearly loved and missed – and Rinoa and Squall had just been-

“It’s okay,” Edea assured, and then she narrowed her eyes, quickly. “Reading minds isn’t one of my powers, just so you know.”

Rinoa shrugged, sitting back down by Edea’s bedside.

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

She _was_ , but she wouldn’t let Edea know that. Instead, Rinoa determined she must’ve just been easy to read. Squall said that too, sometimes. She smiled apologetically.

“Still, it can’t be easy,” Rinoa said. “Not when you don’t know if your husband is-“

“He’s gone, my dear,” Edea interrupted, so surely that it took Rinoa aback, just as it had the day after she’d arrived.

“You don’t know that.”

“But I do,” Edea answered. “You see, my powers – Cid and I’s bond – it means I know these things. Nothing is more powerful for a Sorceress. Well, nothing is more powerful, or so…”

“Painful,” Rinoa finished, quietly, stunned by what Edea confessed.

How had she borne it, since she’d been transported through the portal that’d brought her to Traverse Town?

Edea nodded.

“But Cid wouldn’t want me to dwell,” she said. “He’d want me to continue fighting. He’d be glad that _she_ didn’t get her hands on me or my powers.”

Rinoa leaned forward, as if she were about to ask Edea something important. Perhaps, she thought, it was.

“She?”

For the first time, something like looked akin to anger flashed in Edea’s eyes. It burned, for a moment, and then disappeared, almost as quickly as it had arrived.

“Maleficent,” Edea replied. Rinoa felt her mouth fall open, at the mention of the Sorceress who’d destroyed Radiant Garden. “The Mistress of All Evil.”

* * *

It all fell apart so quickly that Rinoa couldn’t quite believe it did at all.

In the days since her recovery and recuperation, Edea managed to ease herself out of the bed, and the hotel room. On these few occasions, Rinoa accompanied her. They looked at a few of the houses left vacant around town. Edea discussed what she would do to spruce it up, all the while looking as though she yearned the home that’d been left behind.

But, Rinoa resolved to make her feel as much at home as she could, in Traverse Town. Her enthusiasm was catching, Aerith said with a smile, when even Squall volunteered to help Edea find her feet.

The Sorceress was growing on Squall, on all of them. She and Merlin discussed magic in great length when he visited her, eager to find all she knew about her powers, and to reference with his own – admittedly meagre – knowledge of Sorceresses. Cid enjoyed having someone around his own age to talk to, saying gruffly that he could barely keep up with 'all the youngsters around here'.

Rinoa took mock offence at that blatant lie, and even Squall called him out on it. Edea just laughed.

There was something remarkably honest, and open, about Edea.

So, when she succumbed to her injuries, quite unexpectantly, Rinoa hadn’t thought there was anything strange about the events that followed.

In fact, the purple aura that pulsated next to Edea wasn’t anything strange, Rinoa told herself. She convince herself, in the silence, that she'd imagined it. After all, it disappeared so quickly. Who was to say it was ever there at all?

Shock. It was shock, Rinoa told herself. Shock, at her being the only one there by Edea’s bedside as she passed. It was making her see things, and by the time Aerith arrived, Rinoa found there was no point in telling her of something she wasn’t even sure she saw.

Rinoa could only cry, instead, pulled in and comforted by Aerith, until Squall arrived. Silently, he’d understood what she needed, and so put an arm around her shoulders, and escorted her out of the hotel room and into the streets of the Second District.

When Rinoa looked up, she noticed the stars shone dismally in the night sky, as if they too mourned.

* * *

The next day, magic spurted out of Rinoa’s hands; a tidal wave of power she couldn’t control.

Something was burning within her, and she felt like she might be dying. Squall rushed her through busy streets to Merlin’s hideaway, not caring to stop for anyone or anything. By the time he'd helped her to a stool, she could finally breathe again. Whatever it was inside her had calmed down, but Rinoa felt exhausted; she’d never been that tired in her life.

And that magic-

It was strange. It hadn’t looked like the _Fire_ spells Merlin taught Squall, or the curative magic Aerith wielded.

It was _different_.

“A Sorceress can only pass once they’ve transferred their powers to another being,” said Merlin, gravely. “Edea…Edea must’ve passed hers to you.”

“Then…” Rinoa started, and suddenly, she was aware of not only Merlin’s eyes on her, but Squall’s too. She turned to him, and he made to move a step forward, but Rinoa shook her head, wondering if he would be deterred by this twist of fate.

Her mind was swimming, and exhaustion was flooding her all over again. She tried to stand but stumbled back to the seat below her, grateful that it was there.

She placed one hand to her forehead, feeling a comforting hand on top of her other. When she lifted her head, and opened her eyes, Squall was kneeling in front of her. His face gave nothing away, and Rinoa clung tighter. It was all she _could_ do.

It made sense, Rinoa thought. It made sense, and it changed everything.

“I-I’ve become a Sorceress.”

**Author's Note:**

> -DUN, DUN, DUN.
> 
> -I mean, not really, because I've tehnically already written a follow-up in _'oath'_ but...you get what I mean...


End file.
